"Burroughs, Edgar Rice - The People That Time Forgot" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burroughs Edgar Rice)

these pictures resemble each other, or that any of them resemble
the coast as we shall presently find it. I have in view three
plans for scaling the cliffs, and the means for carrying out
each is in the hold. There is an electric drill with plenty
of waterproof cable to reach from the ship's dynamos to the
cliff-top when the Toreador is anchored at a safe distance
from shore, and there is sufficient half-inch iron rod to build
a ladder from the base to the top of the cliff. It would be a
long, arduous and dangerous work to bore the holes and insert
the rungs of the ladder from the bottom upward; yet it can be done.

"I also have a life-saving mortar with which we might be able
to throw a line over the summit of the cliffs; but this plan
would necessitate one of us climbing to the top with the
chances more than even that the line would cut at the summit,
or the hooks at the upper end would slip.

"My third plan seems to me the most feasible. You all saw a
number of large, heavy boxes lowered into the hold before
we sailed. I know you did, because you asked me what they
contained and commented upon the large letter 'H' which was
painted upon each box. These boxes contain the various parts
of a hydro-aeroplane. I purpose assembling this upon the strip
of beach described in Bowen's manuscript--the beach where he
found the dead body of the apelike man--provided there is
sufficient space above high water; otherwise we shall have to
assemble it on deck and lower it over the side. After it is
assembled, I shall carry tackle and ropes to the cliff-top, and
then it will be comparatively simple to hoist the search-party
and its supplies in safety. Or I can make a sufficient number
of trips to land the entire party in the valley beyond the
barrier; all will depend, of course, upon what my first
reconnaissance reveals."

That afternoon we steamed slowly along the face of Caprona's
towering barrier.

"You see now," remarked Billings as we craned our necks to scan
the summit thousands of feet above us, "how futile it would
have been to waste our time in working out details of a plan to
surmount those." And he jerked his thumb toward the cliffs.
"It would take weeks, possibly months, to construct a ladder
to the top. I had no conception of their formidable height.
Our mortar would not carry a line halfway to the crest of the
lowest point. There is no use discussing any plan other than
the hydro-aeroplane. We'll find the beach and get busy."

Late the following morning the lookout announced that he could
discern surf about a mile ahead; and as we approached, we all
saw the line of breakers broken by a long sweep of rolling surf